The field of the invention is apparatus and methods for treating muscles and neuromuscular pain conditions.
Muscle injuries and pain, common among athletes and manual laborers, occur in the general population, due to accidents, over-exertion, and/or poor ergodynamic and working conditions. These types of injuries occur often in the neck, arms, hip, back, and shoulders.
Traditional therapies, such as in muscle strengthening, the most common approach to physical therapy, have no proven effect and often aggravate the pain. Other techniques such as heat or ultrasound are passive and also unproven. Active stretching of the muscle is more effective but has been traditionally performed by physical manipulation of the patient by the therapist, often resulting in over-stretch and a reaction of muscle tightening.
When a muscle is acutely strained, as in a lifting injury, there is pain in the injured muscle until tightness, swelling, bleeding and inflammation subside. Muscles surrounding the injured area tighten up in order to splint the site and prevent further damage, and these surrounding muscles also become painful. In addition, the muscle stretch receptors, called muscle spindles, become contracted. This spindle spasm can become chronic if tension co-exists causing a sympathetically-mediated activation of the spindle.